NEWFANE, N.Y. — John Syracuse thinks the staff at Newfane Rehabilitation and Health Care Center is made up of good, dedicated people.
“They love these residents. The residents love them.”
What the Vice-Chairman of the Niagara County Legislature does not know is how many employees remain at the nursing home.
On three consecutive days, people with loved ones at Newfane Rehab got recorded messages.
Each disclosed that a number of staffers tested positive for COVID-19. On Monday, it was eight staffers. Tuesday, three more. On Wednesday, another four. That’s 15 workers who are now sidelined for at least two-weeks.
So, how many employees remain on the job?
Syracuse says on Monday night, he had what he described as a nice conversation with the proprietor of Newfane Rehab, “However, when I tried to ask him about staffing, he told me that that was proprietary information. And objectively we see that his employees are being taken out because of the COVID and it’s just a numbers game from here.”
The number of nursing home residents dying from COVID-illness at the nursing home continues to climb. Data from the New York State Department of Health shows, as of Wednesday, 23 Newfane Rehab residents had died.
The deaths were a major reason the Niagara County Legislature wrote a letter to Governor Andrew Cuomo asking for the New York National Guard to come in and help Newfane Rehab.
“It’s out of this care for this community that we’re looking for the Governor to step in and… and really get to the bottom of what’s happening over there.”